Silkworm thorn
Maclura tricuspidata · Moraceae · 꾸지뽕나무
How to spot it
Twigs sometimes bear hard thorns 0.5-4.3 cm long; notable for leaves split into 2-3 lobes and round red compound fruit.
Look
- Leaves
- Simple leaves, elliptic, broad elliptic, egg-shaped, obovate or rhombic, 4.5-12.1 x 4.1-7.6 cm, with smooth margins but sometimes split into 2-3 lobes.
- Flowers
- In May-June, round flower clusters grow singly or in pairs in the leaf axils; male flowers are yellow or green-yellow and female flowers pale green.
- Fruit
- The aggregate fruit is round or nearly round, 14-31 mm across, ripening red to red-yellow in September-October. Seeds are round or elliptic and yellow-gray.
- Bark
- Gray-brown with patches of light green, fissured lengthwise and rough.
Where it grows
- In Korea
- Native
- Native to
- China, Japan (planted) and Korea (Gyeonggi, Chungnam, Jeonbuk, Jeonnam, Gyeongnam, Jeju).